Previously Joanna was a Senior Researcher at The North-South Institute in Ottawa. She managed the gender program at The North-South Institute for almost 7 years, where she started the Gender and Economic Reforms in Africa Program (GERA). The GERA program is an action research initiative that brings together 16 African organizations to influence economic policies from a gender perspective. She holds an MA in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. She has policy research, participatory research, advocacy, gender training, project management and monitoring, writing and public speaking experience on issues related to the gender dimensions of economic reform, trade and investment, women's human rights, and women's employment issues. She is on the editorial board of Oxfam’s Gender and Development, the Chair of the Board of Gender at Work Collaborative, and part of the governance of several international civil society advocacy initiatives. She has worked in collaboration with researchers and practitioners in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Côte d'Ivoire.

Some of her recent publications include Financial Sustainability for Women’s Movements Worldwide (AWID 2007) and The Future of Women’s Rights: Global Visions and Strategies (2004, ZED press) edited with Ellen Sprenger and Alison Symington.